HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Ver. 1.-..4.fflicte<l by God. Every child of God, nay, every son of man, has endured affliction. Jeremiah and the city which he here personifies and representi may be said to have experienced affliction in an extra.ordinary degree. A fact so uni- versal cannot be without special significance in human life. But not all the afflicted discern this underlying and profitable meaning. I. AFFLICTION LEADS SOME TO DOUBT THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. It is not uncommon for people to say in their hearts, what some even venture to say with their lips, "If there were a God, I should not be suffered to pass through misfortunes and sorrows so distressing and so undeserved." II. AlrFLIC'l'ION LEADS SOME TO DOUBT GoD'.; BENEVOLENCE AND KL."'WLY INTERESl' m HUMAN BEINGS. Not denying the existence of Deity, these afflicted ones question his moral attributes. They ask, '' If God were a Being of boundless benevolence, woul.i he suffer us to go through waters so deep, flames so :fierce ? His kindness and com- passion-were such attributes part of his nature-would interpose on our behalf and deliver us." III. SOME WHO BELIEVE THAT GOD PERMITS AFFLICTION MISINTERPRET n: AS A. SIGN OF ms WRATH. 'l'his it may be; this it was in the case of Jerusalem. Yet God in the midst of wrath remembers mercy ; he doth not keep his anger for ever. And there are in.stijoces in which no greater misinterpretation could be possible than the 48 THE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH. [011. III, 1-66,
'\'icw t.hat ~uffering iR mere pen1tlty, that those who suffer most are necessarily sinners Roove all their neigh hours. IV. AFFLICTION SHOULD BE REGARDED BY THE PIOUS AND BUDMIBSIVE AB A PROOF 01' Drvnm MERCY AND AS MEA'KT FOR TREIR GOOD. Scripture represents suffering CIB thC' cbRSt.cning of a Father's hand. The experience of many a Christian is summed up in the lnngua~C' of the psalmist: "It was good for me that I was afflicted." V. AFFLICTION MAY THUS BECOME, IN THE EXPERIENCE OF TRE PIOUS, THE OCOABION FOR DEV0UT THANKSGIVING. How often have mature and holy Christians been heard to say, "I would not, upon looking back, have been without the ruggedness of the road, the bitterness of the cup" !-T.
Vers. 7-9.-_The '!'JaY of life hedge'! and ~uilt up, The man who enjoys prosperity ~eems also to en.10:v liberty; his way hes straight and level and open before him. But it oft~n happens in human l_ife that libert:r is changed _into restraint, that every path that 1s smooth and peaceful 1s closed, that, m the figurative language of this passaae 0 a hedge is planted, a fence is staked out, a wall is built across the traveller's way, '
J. MAN'S DELIGHT IS NATURALLY IN LIBERTY AND PROSPERITY, II. PROVIDENTIAL CIBCU?IISTANCES SOMETIMES COMPLETELY DEPRIVE RIM OF BUOH LIBERTY AND PROSPERITY. 1. One may miss the object of his heart's earthly desire. He may have set his affection upon some object, he may have directed his aspiration towards some aim, he may have purposed some course in life; and all these expectations and hopes may come to nothing; circumstances may conspire against the fulfilment of such desires and intentions. 2. Another may find great delight in the service of God ; and suddenly health may fail and such service may consequently be forbidden, or powers of mind may be enfeebled, or means may be reduced, or fellow-labourers, apparently necessary, may be removed by death. ill. THERE IS DANGER LEST IN SUCH A POSITION EVEN GOOD PEOPLE SHOULD BECOME IMPATIEJIT A:t>'"D REBELLIOUS. Believing that the Almighty has power to remove every obstacle, and to make plain the roughest path, they are tempted to question the interest, the ea.re, the benevolence of the Supreme, and to give way to fretfulness and mur- muring, and to e.sk "Why should not God make light my heavy chain, pluck up the cruel hedge, break down the impenetrable wall? " IV. YET IN SUCH CIRCUM:STANCES THE PATH WHICH Gon HAB .APPOINTED SB:OULD BE JI.ECOG:t>"IZED AS THE BIGHT PATH. Resignation to his will, waiting for his time of deliverance, confidence in his goodness,-snch is the attitude of heart in which true consolation and ultimate prosperity will be found.-T.
Ver. 8.-Unheard prayer. There were seasons when it seemed to the prophet that God not only refused to interpose in his behalf, but refused even to listen to his prayer. In such faithless and yet not unnatural ima~nations and fears many truly pious natures have participated. Complaints are made by the afflicted that they have prayed., but have prayed in vain; that God has" shut out" their prayer. I. THEEE IS PBAYEB WIDCH GoD DOES SHUT OUT, i.e. THE PBAYEB OF SELFISHNESS A:t.'"D BIN. Men ask and receive not, because they ask amiss. They ask for gifts which God has never promised to bestow and which he has never encouraged them unre- servedly to desire. There are bad things which men ask God for and which it would harm the suppliants to receive. There are things not bad in themselves, the bestowal of which, however, upon certain persons and in certain circumstances would be spiritually harmful Such gifts are withheld, not in malevolence, but in mercy. lL THERE IS PBA YEB WRICH IS NOT UNHEARD, BUT THE ANSWER TO WHIOH IB NOT I.IOIBDIATE AND IS NOT, JUST WHAT IS EXPECTED. Denial is one thing, delay is another. Perhaps it may be said that every true prayer is both heard and answered. For every acceptable petition takes the tone of our Saviour's ever-memorable and incom- parable prayer, "Not my will, 0 my Father, but thine, be done.'' Misinterpretation is to be avoided. The reason of delay, of seeming denial, is to be sought in ourselves. Gud often withholds for a season, in order to awaken our faith and submission, what he intends eventually to confer.-T.
Ver. 17.-Prosperity forgotten. What a touching picture of extreme adversity and OH, III, 1--66,] '!'HE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH. 49